revivalproject | Underground, Above Ground, Looking Fine Either Way

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Underground, Above Ground, Looking Fine Either Way

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, Network Post, OTA logs (and closed starters)
WHERE: Network; Outside of the TRC building; Rufus's House; Closed Starter in Mine
WHAT: Reeve Offering Hair Cuts, checking in on Rufus, reprimanding Mini in the Mines (backdated to tunnel crawling day)
WHEN: Mostly August
WARNINGS: Yelling at Mini for flipping someone off, Reeve having scissors near people's heads?

1. Network Video

Good day all. As you can see, I've hauled myself away from the mines work due to... Well, degrees of issue with the enclosed spaces.

[A lie. A simple lie. Mini had been becoming a bit argumentative in the worst ways and Reeve had chosen to take the feline away from the source of his agitation. Especially since it seemed the people that had been working in and out of the area were doing quite well now that the map was completed.]

I have been working on final refinement of the mines map from the exploration. I can send anyone pictures of the maps I've made, but I'd like to make it a more useful one and was wondering if anyone with Comms might lend me their time for an afternoon to polish something for use on all communicators.

Beyond that...

[Reeve holds up scissors, a comb, and an actual electric razor]

I spent a it of my replicator rations this month on grooming supplies, and have converted the razor to run on the power supply here. While I'm not the best hair dresser, my mother and I used to do each other's trims when I was small. I'm happy to either offer these tools for use for people wanting them, or to have people come and ask for a trim. Mostly, my eyes are blurring so much from this map that I need something to take breaks with.

So, anyone for a trim? I don't promise they'll be fashionable, but your hair will be short and provided it's not overly curly, even. Just show up at the Restoration Coordination building.

2. Okay But Hair Cuts | Temba Restoration Coordination Building | OTA

True to his word, the door to the Restoration Committee building was open wide, allowing in fresh air and sun. Near the front of the very busy room filled with tables and desks and charts and drawings is... Well, it's a single chair. A simple one clearly able to be moved. Next to it a bag that clearly had the materials Reeve was showing off on the network. And next to the main table of the room is Reeve, hair freshly cut, rubbing at his eyes as he took a break from looking at a rather large spread of papers that included all of his notes on the mapping of the mines. They were giving him a headache, with how needlessly twisted the place was. They did it on purpose, just to offend him. Of course they didn't, but it felt like that.

With a sigh he looked up and, catching sight of someone in the doorway, he smiled.

"Good afternoon."

3. Language Young Man | Mines | Closed to Felwinter [Backdated to Mines Exploration]

Mini hadn't been the only one worried when he had settled into crawling through the hole to the mystery further into the mines. But Reeve himself took a deep breath and leaned against a wall, eyes closed, mind linked to that of his companion. He saw through Mini's eyes and listened through the construct's mental tirade and discovery. And when all was said and done and the Ghost and feline returned, Reeve scooped the feline up into his arms and moved away from the others.

"That Felspring is eh real sensible type," Mini observed, and Reeve ignored the comment.

"You and I have to have a little talk," he said when he thought they were closer to being alone. "I can't believe you did that to Cobb."

"'Ey! He started it! Treaten us like we wasn't important. Ain't right, ah'm a livin thing too," Mini grumbled, not as quiet as Reeve might want him to. But surely no one was listening to hear his complaint, right?

4. Checking In On You | Rufus's House | Closed to Rufus

If there was one thing that Reeve knew how to do, it was fret. Free of his previous explorations and with the finally finished and repainted cane in hand, Reeve had made his way to where he knew Rufus had chosen to settle. In his pocket there was a strip of dried baconshroom because he thought perhaps Dark might enjoy not only the taste, but the toughness which might be a bit closer to jerky. It was the best offering he could bring for the hound.

With Mini (properly chided about proper language in polite company) at his side, Reeve began the trek to the restored homes and from there, the one in which Rufus was living. With a raised hand he knocked crisply on the door. Time to see if the boss was in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The scratch was definitely working. Mini might not be able to feel the scratches, but on some level he was very aware of them, and a low, rumbling purr came out of him. Yep, Reeve made sure he could do that too. Good cat, right?

But Poe might get blindsided with an awkward question later, much to Reeve's distress.

Reeve, meanwhile, stayed fully focused on Tony, and the more the man spoke, the more he smiled. Yes, this had been for the best, hadn't it? Finally getting out of their way so they could make each other feel like this. He ignored the snark about his language to instead nod along with what he's saying.

"Oh, it's perfectly normal, Tony. There's a word for all of those feelings," Reeve pointed out. He didn't intend to put it out there in case it made Tony flinch and shut down. The man seemed prone to it. "It's normal and it's natural and while it may be something akin to the sort of rush one might get from an addiction, it's not. It's okay, and I'm very certain your heart is safe with him. If you let it be. So call him boyfriend if it makes your heart jump with delight. Or call him your lover. Just make sure you put yourself in a place where both of you can embrace the emotions you share."

In quick succession, Tony went from looking skeptical that Reeve actually understood what he was saying (the addiction wasn't love, it was obsessive and destructive and would kill him if he indulged in it, but Tony wasn't ignorant of the fact that he felt that intensely and didn't have to be led to admitting that part to himself), to apologetically concerned that Reeve was in the same pain if that was what Poe was doing to him, then ashamed all over again for being too weak to handle what anyone else could just do without falling apart like take a drink or have a relationship. With his drumming hand, he reached tentatively for Reeve's to bring up against his chest like he would usually clutch at his own heart in his anxiety, like he might tap into some of Reeve's strength in the connection. It didn't help Tony properly meet Reeve's eye, but he squeezed his fingers appreciatively as he said, "The night that I knew I was gone for him, he told me he wished he could give me his heart. And--he probably didn't mean it like that, we hardly knew each other, but if I have to call him something, that's what he is. He's my heart." Which still wasn't really the problem, the act of telling Reeve or anyone else that was the problem, and Tony was pretty sure he was a long way off from the 'anyone else'. At least he could tell Reeve, and with a flutter of pride that Tony didn't expect to come with admitting to that kind of commitment. "I don't think anyone else needs to know that," he continued before that had a chance to gain any traction, "You don't need to know that, it's my shit, but--" He dropped Reeve's hand to flick a finger between them with a nod, in silent appreciation that Reeve had cultivated this common ground for Tony to admit that they stood on together. He had that meeting, if he needed it.

When Tony reached for his hand, Reeve let him. And he let it settle there against Tony's chest, feeling the reassuring feel of Tony's heartbeat.

If there was ever anyone he thought deserved to be able to give his heart with no restraint to another person, to have it held and cherished, it was Tony. Even when Tony dropped his grip, Reeve kept his hand in place. And then he leaned in to place a gentle kiss on Tony's forehead.

"It's okay to share that sort of thing. And I know it's scary, to open oneself up like that. I'm trying to learn how to do it again myself. But... Tony how long ago was it he said that? Sometimes you need to check in."

He knows because he'd had to figure it out himself with Poe, given they had failed to check in and they had both perhaps suffered the wondering if the other wanted them in the same way.

The kiss was more reassuring than the touches that Tony thought were attempts to control his behaviour, so while it left his face hot and head bowed with wide, watchful eyes that asked if Reeve was sure Tony deserved that, he wasn't tense with the urgency to fix the problem. "Really?" he interrupted with some disbelief at anything Reeve had to learn, because in Tony's experience, Reeve had been surprisingly open with him from the start, not burdened with all of the anxieties that Tony tried his best to rigidly armor. He must have been so caught up in that effort that he hadn't noticed Reeve's.

He had to laugh at Reeve's careful question, though, appreciating the intent but tickled by the irony. "Don't worry about that. He said it at that fair that Billy threw for us, back when this guy got his new suit," he explained, hoisting Mini again. "We've had a few conversations since then," Reeve definitely didn't need reminding. He was stuck in the middle of the worst of them.

Of course he wasn't trying to control Tony's behavior. This was just how he showed his affection. He struggled not to frown at the mention of the fair. That, he now understood, was when he'd truly lost the battle for Tony. It was just that no one had bothered to tell him at the time.

"You know, that might have changed, Tony. Oh you sweet fool, have you considered that maybe he's scared of saying it too? I swear, you're both idiots."

"Pot, kettle," Mini grumbled at Reeve, who shot the doll another dark look. Mini merely flicked his ears and tail in irritation.

"I won't bother telling you that you have to say it," Reeve continued to Tony. "Trying to get you to do something you've decided you won't is like leading a chocobo to water. You can do it, but you sure can't make him drink, even if it's good for him. But consider it."

That night at the fair had ended poorly enough that Jon had stopped speaking to Tony, so the battle, as it were, wasn't nearly so simple, but Tony still smiled fondly at the recollection in response to what he guessed was a doubtful frown from Reeve. They had certainly spent much more of that period explosively angry than anything that would have appeared affectionate, so Tony couldn't blame anyone on the outside for doubting that this was a stable foundation. His smile only faltered briefly at the suggestion that something might have changed, but not because he was worried about being a fool or an idiot; he didn't doubt anymore that Jon loved him, however little he deserved it. But they hadn't exactly talked about the relationship that was only on pause back in Jon's other life, his real life, and how that might have changed how he thought about Tony since Jon had gone and come back. That wasn't a wound Tony wanted to look too closely at, and wasn't prepared for Reeve to suggest it was festering.

The smile returned with ease at another strangely familiar idiom, and he nodded his understanding before Reeve had to explain it, sure, he wasn't going to argue that he was stubborn, but this exchange was starting to sound more like projection now that Tony was primed to look for it. "Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" he challenged, eyebrow raised to suggest he didn't really need an answer. "Don't get me wrong, congratulations, that's fast, it's only been a couple months and you're boyfriends and you're waiting for him--while you've got the space, maybe it's the perfect time to make the big, romantic gesture."

And here Reeve thought it was a good point to see change. Because he just assumed positive change between them. He didn't mean it was festering. He thought by now it might have healed.

"Why would I need convinced?" Reeve frowned, finally pulling back. And he definitely didn't know what to do about this turn of the conversation. "Tony... if you're not comfortable talking about your relationship with Jon with me, you could just say that rather than implying something might be wrong with Poe and myself."

"I'm not implying something's wrong," Tony insisted with his free hand up to dissuade Reeve from clamming up any further, though that wasn't a good sign. Tony thought it had followed pretty naturally, with the pot-kettle thing that he wasn't the first one to say, that he only meant to find out what sweeping declarations of adoration Reeve was sitting on, so he dropped that hand to ask more carefully, "Is there something wrong?" If Poe and Reeve had made it to boyfriends over a quick couple of months, it stood to reason the honeymoon was about over and the hurdles would be more apparent about now.

"Only that he's been gone for a while," Reeve answered. "But he's an adrenaline junky and hoping to find something out there, and I'm useful here. When he gets back, things will be perfectly lovely again."

So he assumed. Though he was happy to know Tony might care about his love life for Reeve's sake.

"Though I admit, I'm half worried that my former boss, being here now, will say something stupid to make Poe look at me crazy. There were these horrid and false rumors about me in the company near the end of its days."

Reeve was the one that had done the work for the common ground, they were at the meeting already, and Tony hadn't said all of that embarrassing shit just for Reeve to enjoy it. Of course Tony cared. He wasn't sure what exactly he was caring about right now, but he was working on it. He did scoff with a roll of his eyes at 'perfectly lovely', which would have sounded profoundly sarcastic from anyone else in the multiverse, so that there was any caveat at all was a relief from this disgusting sincerity.

"You're worried that Rufus still believes these rumours," he tried to condense, with his hand up to count of the hypotheses he hadn't quite settled on as he rattled off, "You're worried that Poe is likely to believe Rufus over you. You're actually worried because the rumours weren't quite so false and now there's witnesses."

"No," Reeve answered. "I think it might amuse him to spread them. And I don't think Poe will buy it. It's more of a 'I just don't want that in the air supply'."

He sighs and leans back in his chair. His fingers stroke at his beard, because he was worried.

"I think I love him, and don't want to lose that."

The meeting might have been quickly falling apart, because on the matter of trust and openness, Tony was not a great resource. His posture shifted into that of theatrical contemplation, contrapposto with a thoughtful finger raised to his chin like he could produce a response that was in any way mature. In a way, he was lucky that no one he was close to had turned up here. It granted him some control over his image that he hadn't realized he still had with the way everyone seemed to know everything that happened around here.

"We could kill him," was the result of Tony's serious contemplation. More genuinely, he offered, "Keep him occupied, so he doesn't need to amuse himself. What do you think, do I have a shot?" He lifted his chin then, swiping his fingers through the verging on unruly length of his hair with his trademark flirtatious smirk, evidently prepared to be a distraction. His arm was still up like this in a flaunting flex when he changed gears entirely to ask, "What do you mean, you think?"

Kill Rufus? Reeve looked truly scandalized for a long moment until, at last, he understood. It was a joke. He breathed a sigh of relief and had to chuckle before shaking his head.

"Tony, no. Oh god no. Don't go after Rufus. This planet would be destroyed."

But then there is the change in gears and Reeve blushed and looked away.

"It's... I feel it, but it's probably too early to say without scaring him off."

It was cruel of Reeve to be giving Tony such mixed signals. He looked like he was really against the idea, but oh god no was flagrant encouragement, planetary destruction tacit endorsement. Tony's smirk grew dangerously through this insistence, and was only thrown off by the reappearance of the blush. He practically slapped his hand back down on the table, leaning closer like he was studying a chemical reaction he was trying to replicate.

"You said it yourself, he's an adrenaline junkie," he pointed out. "A quick jolt to the heart is exactly what you're after."

Cruel? Mixed signals? He was serious, Tony. But the conclusion the man has, even as he leans in, has Reeve leaning back. What?

"A quick jolt to the heart?"

"The big, romantic gesture," Tony repeated now that they were properly on the same page. "Flowers, champagne, music, something a little scandalous on the skin," he encouraged, voice dropping to give a tug to Reeve's waistband, then quickly retracting his hand before Reeve thought he had to cover Mini's innocent ears again. "Go all out. Even if it scares him off, he won't be able to stop thinking about it, he'll be back."

Reeve's definitely redder than before with the tugging at his clothes.

"Tony!" Reeve gasps, clearly scandalized. "That..."

Oh dear.

"I don't know that any of that is possible here."

Tony had definitely seen Reeve in far more compromising positions, and had to work much harder to get under his skin than this, so he was really going to have to ask Poe what he had done to the old man to make him so...shy. In the meantime, Tony would like to revel in it, but his fangy grin slowly softened despite the creeping curl of his fingers like he was about to tickle them up Reeve's side to find out how many more colours he would turn. They did pluck at his shirt only to hang there while Tony pointed out, "You didn't feel this way when we were messing around." It was a little sad, a tinge of hurt in the furrow of Tony's brow, but he was still smiling for the bullet Reeve had clearly dodged to get here. And he should have been more sure for it.

Yes, he had absolutely been seen by Tony in more compromising positions. But there is a time and a place and this was neither of those.

But Tony's observation found Reeve sighing. This was complicated.

"I was certain you'd never want something emotional with me, so I was attempting to act in a way to protect my heart."

That was more than a tinge of hurt, making Tony back away to where he could busily adjust Mini in his arms to finally set him down again with a stroke to his head to encourage him on to whatever doll things it was he did. From there, he slouched back on one hand against the table behind him, very casually shrugging shoulder cautiously toward Reeve so Tony could keep his focus out at the room instead. "I don't think you're that good of an actor," he said, mouth twisted in doubt that Reeve had that much control over his blushing, and that he didn't feel the need to apply it anymore. No, Tony was certain this was something else. "I haven't been around, I have replicator rations stocked," he said to the room, then down to his nails that weren't quite as tortured by the fire since his departure. "Flowers're easy, just make sure they're not poisonous, one of the kids'll know. And we can record something, on one of Jon's tapes."

Mini, freed, immediately went over to the kettle to start some heat under it for coffee. He assumed they'd both need it.

As for Reeve, he shook his head. And for the first time in a while just let himself speak as he had been raised to. Let his natural accent come through, rich with what could only sound like a Scottish Brogue to Tony, and deep just because his voice was. He did drop less letters than Mini did though.

"Survival at Shinra was learning to act, Tony. My magical talents could have earned me a tiny little cell to be studied from. Add in being a corporate executive and you understand just how much men at our level play games. I may be as good of a man as I can try to be, but we learn our parts well. And I learned that no one chooses me in matters of the heart."

There he scoffed and leaned back into his seat, letting the learned poise and accent dominate again.

"He shocked me when he agreed that he wantedmore than my nights. It hasn't been true in a while. It leaves me flustered and I like that. I missed it. Until we got back from that little spell, I was certain it was merely a convenient arrangement for us both."

From the first lilting vowel, Tony was looking up again in surprise, not entirely unprepared for the sound of Reeve's accent, but never expecting Reeve to use it so openly. And he was sympathetic, of course--the magic thing he couldn't really understand, not personally, but he did know how much of his own life was a performance even without that particular fear, and how many times he was on the brink of death by making the mistake of dropping the act. In almost every case, it was because he was in love.

So he did get why Reeve was lying to himself. That didn't make it any less irritating as he continued, turning the apologetic raise of Tony's brow to a frustrated furrow by the time he was done. Multiple parties had made Tony very aware that he had not been nearly as clear as he thought he was, but he really didn't know what else Reeve thought Tony was saying by still standing here without his dick out. How many other people had he dismissed like that? "You're an idiot," Tony declared, shifting his weight to lean his hip against the table to cross his arms instead. "And if you fuck this up again by convincing yourself not to tell him how to feel, I'm not going to help you get it together again."

An idiot? Reeve frowned at the other man.

"And, pray tell, what would I be fucking up 'again' by take a bit of time before trotting out a word he may not react well to?"

Why is it so hard to understand caution?

"Your whole life," Tony guessed, but it didn't sound like Reeve was going to agree already, so Tony didn't linger there. It must have been harder to see the ripples caused by cautious inaction than the explosive results of impulsive action. "You don't even know how he's going to react, and you're not going to find out by never releasing the prototype. And in the case that he doesn't take it well, then all you've done is push up the schedule so you're not wasting your time on yet another guy who only wanted some tail. Next. Or is that all you want out of him?"

"I..."

Reeve wilted. Tony was right. He was absolutely right. But he didn't know how to say it. The fear was so much. Too many years of losing.

"Sometimes you get knocked down so much that getting back up isn't easy. I don't know how to. I... I'm scared."

How stupid was that?

Underground, Above Ground, Looking Fine Either Way

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